The War Museum hosted an art event featuring a well-renowned sculptor from Iceland. HUMAN, the art of Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir, was a lecture held to mark the opening of the ARMORS exhibition; it was a creative journey into the life and art of the artist who explores human nature. The exhibition is now on display on the territory of the War Museum’s memorial complex.
The idea of the ARMORS derives from personal reflections on the armours of fifteenth-century medieval Europe. Yet, the artist boldly asserts that there is no place in the world more symbolic for these sculptures than Ukraine. Three pairs of human-size, aluminium-cast figures stand facing one another. In each pair, one figure is a replica of medieval armour created from 3D scans made by The Met Museum, while the other one is a naked androgynous person. Defence and vulnerability. Strength and openness. An outer shell and what lies within.
“My work is a still moment”, said Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir at the beginning of the event, describing her approach to understanding humanity and society. She is fond of the ambivalence present in everyone of us. The recurring themes in her works include transformation of forms, duality of layers–sky and earth, the fragmented and the whole. Even the choice of materials reflects the world’s duality: glass might be transparent and conceal nothing, yet it may cut the one who uses it. The aluminium of ARMORS embodies a similar tension, as it is cold and strong, and at the same time inviting to approach and touch it too.
That is precisely why the sculptures can–and should–be touched, allowing you to experience something personal, distinct from the authors’ perspective. For Steinunn Þórarinsdóttir, art is about seeing. Her perspective is not ours; it may differ, yet in this difference a dialogue begins. The key message is to unite, not divide. To her, humanity is just a landscape that is constantly changing.
During the lecture, the sculptor also spoke about her life path, from studying at the University of Portsmouth and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna to years of experiments with form, material, and senses. At the event, the artist signed a book about her art and gifted it to the Museum’s collection. The audience included students and teachers from the departments of sculpture and art theory of the National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture, philosophers and art historians from Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, artists, collectors–everyone drawn to the question: what does it mean to be human today?
The exhibition awaits. Come. See. Touch.
